Daniel Barenboim – conductor, pianist, all-round musician – has been exploiting the impact of cyclical performances of composers’ works for several years now, with cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies and piano concertos, Wagner’s operas, Schoenberg’s orchestral works and, in conjunction with Pierre Boulez, Mahler’s symphonies. With the performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1 at the Philharmonie de Paris, he completes his Bruckner Cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Bruckner’s symphonies have
“rarely been performed so passionately” (Altamusica). As part of the performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 1, the maestro also conducted violinist Wolfram Brandl and
violist Yulia Deyneka in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, available as separate programme in the catalogue A01550081 (30 mins)
Daniel Barenboim – conductor, pianist, all-round musician – has been exploiting the impact of cyclical performances of composers’ works for several years now, with cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies and piano concertos, Wagner’s operas, Schoenberg’s orchestral works and, in conjunction with Pierre Boulez, Mahler’s symphonies. With the performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2 at the Philharmonie de Paris, he completes his Bruckner Cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Bruckner’s symphonies have
“rarely been performed so passionately” (Altamusica).
Recorded live at the Carinthian Summer Festival on 27 August 1979, this concert features soloists from the orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala under the direction of Claudio Abbado. One of the leading conductors of our time, Abbado was music director and artistic director of the Scala until 1986 before shifting his focus to Vienna (music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986-1991) and, later, Berlin. Since 1969, the Carinthian Summer in Ossiach, Austria, has been presenting internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles in splendid Alpine settings. A particularly opulent venue is the Baroque monastery church of Ossiach, where this concert was filmed.
The tension is palpable at Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Elysées this 28th of March 2007. Anna Netrebko is not only making her debut in France, but she is making it with Rolando Villazón. The ‘dream couple’ of the opera world is about to bring its incomparable charm and magnetism to France’s ‘mélomanes.’ And the result is nothing less than phenomenal: ‘An unforgettable evening, rich in emotions, which many spectators will look back on with nostalgia one day and say: ‘I was there!’. No matter where they appear, Netrebko and Villazón inevitably work their magic on the audience, whether it consists of hundreds or, when broadcast on TV, of millions. For their Paris concert, the duo chose a broad selection of chiefly late-romantic works – the style for which their voices seem to be tailor-made..
After speaking with her for one and a half minutes, I knew that I would even sing Heavy Metal for her if she wanted me to,’ gushed Rolando Villazón after meeting French conductor and harpsichordist Emmanuelle Haïm. Devoted to cultivating the works of Monteverdi, Handel, Rameau and Purcell, the vibrant Haïm has become one of the leading lights of the Early Music scene. Trained as a pianist and harpsichordist in Paris, she assisted William Christie before founding her own ensemble ‘Le Concert d’Astrée,’ which performs on historical instruments. Rolando Villazón is better known for his performances as tormented lover and ‘dream’ partner of Anna Netrebko in ‘La Traviata’ and ‘La Bohème’ (both available from UNITEL CLASSICA) than for his accounts of early Baroque music. But in this concert of works by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), the powerhouse tenor proves his allround mastery of italianità. The main work is the ‘Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda,’ a descriptive piece for three voices based on a text from Torquato Tasso’s epic poem ‘Gerusalemme liberata.’
Before the New World Symphony and the Requiem there were the Symphonic Variations and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8. The Symphonic Variations are as original as they are rarely performed, and blend seamlessly into this symphony. Composed a full decade before the symphony, Dvorák’s variations last no more than two minutes each. The symphony itself is full of surprises and gives a rarely seen glimpse into the mind and work of this agile and energetic composer. Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 rounds out the evening at the Orchestre de Paris with a performance by Rudolf Buchbinder, one of Paavo Järvi’s close collaborators and one of piano’s rare talents. —– Program: Antonín DVORÁK, Symphonic Variations, Op. 78; Ludwig van BEETHOVEN, Piano Concerto No. 3, in C minor, Op. 37; Antonín DVORÁK, Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88
Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron in Marseille. The performance is part of the celebration of Marseille-Provence as the 2013 European Capital of Culture. On the programworks Giuseppe Verdi and Hector Berlioz. —– PROGRAM: Verdi: La Traviata, Preludes to act 1 and 3; Overture to Les Vêpres siciliennes; Overture to La forza del destino / Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique op. 14.
The Belcea Quartet is one of the world’s leading chamber music ensembles, having won many international accolades. Now, with the string quartets, the musicians have rediscovered a gem of twentieth century chamber music. “Here is a composer moving gently and magically from the Romantic and Classical canon towards aural visions of lightness, of sublimated pain and brooding escapism. Shame on those who do not know these pieces.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). The Belcea Quartet succeeds in an outstanding manner in holding the balance between the youthful exuberance of the first two quartets and the lyrical solemnity and sweet morbidity of the third.
Live from the awe-inspiring new Philharmonie de Paris, the French capital’s elite orchestra performs a programme devoted to the endlessly fascinating music of Béla Bartók. On the podium is Esa-Pekka Salonen, one of the composer’s truly authoritative interpreters. This concert was hailed as “revelatory” by the leading French journal Diapason, “a unique expressive and sensory voyage (…) with precise phrasing and incredible flexibility (…) an irresistible feeling for timbre, tightropewalking accents, acoustic spaces, instrumental breathing (…) rhythmic agility, range of sensitive colours, humour and irony, brilliance, luminosity, moments of astonishing sweetness. The Orchestre de Paris soared and surpassed itself. Salonen is clearly a unique artist.” PROGRAM Bartok: Dance Suite; Concerto for two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra; Concerto for Orchestra
